Dragonquest - Donita K. Paul [28]
Regidor nudged Kale’s knee. “Fenworth is trying a dehydration spell.”
“You can mindspeak with the wizard?” Kale focused on the meech dragon’s face.
He closed his slanted eyes and pursed his thin lips. He nodded in answer to her question. “It won’t work. He wants to cast the spell around each mordakleep’s tail and sever the connection with the swamp water. It won’t work. It takes too long.”
“Can you help him?”
Regidor’s expression twitched in annoyance. “No. I don’t know how.”
His eyes popped open, and he stared at Kale. One word came out of his mouth in a horrified hiss. “Blimmets!”
Kale stood up. Regidor sprang to his feet beside her.
Toopka grabbed Kale’s leg below the knee and squeezed as if nothing would pry her loose.
“I can’t sense them,” Kale said, her voice shrill with fear. “Where are they?”
“Coming to join the fight.” Regidor’s grim words sent a shiver down Kale’s spine.
“Are you sure?” she demanded. “No one controls blimmets. They tunnel through the earth at random and come forth to devour anything alive only when they’re hungry. They couldn’t have a goal. They’re almost mindless.”
“They have a goal. It’s our friends.”
“It’s impossible.”
Kale didn’t want to believe the destructive horde of weasel-like creatures could actually search for victims. She reached out and put a hand on Regidor’s shoulder, wanting to give him a shake to make him change his opinion. As soon as her fingers rested on his shoulder, a sensation hit her thoughts with whirling intensity. She saw the squirming mass of dark bodies burrowing rapidly toward the field west of The Bogs. She felt the blimmets’ collective desire to consume dragon flesh.
“We have to help. We have to warn Dar and the others.”
Kale leaned her head back and screamed. “Wulder, help!” In the same instant, she knew what He expected. Wulder had chosen her to be that help.
“No, no, no.” She beat clenched fists against her thighs.
“Open your hand, Kale, and I will hold it.”
Kale sucked in a surprised breath. The voice belonged to Paladin.
12
JOINING THE BATTLE
“It’s up to us,” Kale declared.
She looked from Toopka’s wide eyes and open mouth to Regidor’s serious expression.
“Regidor, tell Fenworth the blimmets are coming.”
“How?”
“Mindspeak. You can do it.”
Regidor dutifully closed his eyes and scrunched his face into his thinking grimace. A moment later his eyes popped open. “I did it!”
Kale hugged him and then dropped to her knees. She focused on the patch of worn floorboards in front of her and concentrated.
What should we do? If only Dar or Leetu were here.
Kale shook her head in frustration. “We have to think of a way to help.”
She looked from Toopka to Regidor. Both shrugged.
“Water,” Kale said as a memory struck her. “Fenworth drowned the blimmets when they attacked our camp.”
Regidor’s face brightened. “There’s water in the swamp.”
Kale nodded. “We have to figure how to dump it on them.”
“Buckets!” said Toopka, bouncing on her toes with excitement.
“Too small,” said Regidor.
“Weather,” said Kale.
“Weather?” Toopka’s and Regidor’s voices harmonized, with Regidor’s bass almost burying the little doneel’s squeal.
“Yes!” Kale clapped her hands together. “Fenworth used a storm.”
Regidor ran out of the room. His footsteps rapidly pounded through a hallway and then faded away as he ascended one of the many spiral staircases. Soon the soft tattoo thudded back through the hollow branch corridor, becoming louder as he jumped down the stairs. The meech returned to the common room, holding a huge volume bound in exquisite blue leather and two smaller tomes covered in what looked like moss.
“Weather spells.” He huffed as he dropped the heavy books on the short table between the sofa and the armchairs.
He opened one of